Under or Over: Hawkeye & Black Widow

CHAPTER #61

Mongolia fell between China and Russia.  It was vast and empty, except for some traditional nomadic people. Most people lived in the capital city of Ulan Bator or Ulaanbaatar, but they were heading to Gobi.  Even though Gobi was less populated, Barton didn't mind going there.  Mongolia had three sports that were its main focus, two of which Baton was interested in; horse racing and archery.  The other thing that drew his attention was their eagle hunters.  Gobi was mostly desert and in the southern region of Mongolia, making a secret hideout hard to find.

"What's the guy's name?" Clint asked as they flew to Gobi.

"Batukhan, it means something like firm ruler."

"No last name?"

She shrugged, "Khan, but I doubt there's any relation to Genghis."

"So are you reporting that to Fury or is this one off the books?"

"Not sure yet, why?"

Now it was his turn to shrug. Then they both focused on the intel Bird had collected on the region and Batukhan.  Barton's mind wandered, he needed some action, to get his thoughts off Marcy and Tucker. Romanoff noticed his silence, because usually he'd be cracking jokes or they'd be bickering about something from the past.  It wasn't long before they were at the location.

"Why are we stopping in the middle of the desert? All I see are sand dunes," Clint grumbled.

"One of those dunes hides a building, in that building is Batukhan."

"Bird scan the dunes," Clint ordered.

It took thirty minutes before the correct dune was located.  Barton watched Romanoff take off her shoes and go barefoot.  

"It's easier to walk this way.  Your boots will fill up with sand, trust me."

His eyes narrowed, then he rummaged in his pack and took out duct tape.  Next he taped up all the seems and holes, before taping it to his legs.  Satisfied, he smirked at his fellow agent and jumped into the sand. Bird had taken them to the peak of the dune, so they only had to walk down, which made it a lot less work.

"Exactly how are we going to get to that hatch?  Dig with our hands?" Clint asked almost sarcastically.

Now it was Natasha's turn to smirk, "with this gadget I picked up."

The thing in her hand unfolded to something he couldn't even describe if he'd wanted to.  It was sort of a shovel, but with a vacuum attached.  Whatever it was, the sand cleared away in minutes and they got the hatch open, before the sand shifted again.  Barton had to take a minute to remove the duct tape, while Romanoff whom already had her boots back on, waited impatiently.  When they got moving, Barton could see they were on an elevated walkway, Romanoff needed night vision goggles to see.  To her it seemed like this dune was very similar to the pyramid, so she knew they were on the right track. The layout too was almost identical.  As they came around a corner, Barton signalled her to stop and crouch down.  He loosed some arrows and the security team fell.  Nothing else happened, so they advanced.

"Where next?" Clint whispered.

"Through the red door, down some steps and he should be by a bank of computers in the control room."  Natasha moved past him and got in position to open the red door, "On three... One, two..."  she swung open the door and Barton again fired a few arrows.

Romanoff saw their target and leaped into action, before the man could sound the alarm.  A knife went straight through the centre of his hand, anchoring him to the wood table.  He let loose with profanity, while she stood there looking at him calmly.  Barton watched the door and the monitors, which he noticed had announced their arrival, this had been too easy.

"I don't like this," Clint warned her, "they saw us coming."

"This won't take long," Natasha said and went to work.  Unlike other interrogations, she didn't have time to play the game.  The Black Widow's brutal side was unleashed on Batukhan.

Using her knife, she pealed off one of his finger nails, while asking questions.  The man screamed in agony and tried to fight.  A dark smirk crossed her face, he needed to fear her, to think she was insane. 

"Did you have to make him piss himself?" The smell made Clint gag.

"Well now I don't need water, he's wet enough for the next stage of torture," Natasha said with deadly intent.

The man told her what she wanted to know.  Because he spoke in the Mongolian dialect of Khalkha, Barton had no idea what was said, until the end.  The man spoke English, "kill me or I will kill you."

"Wrong thing to say to the Black Widow buddy."  He watched her slice his throat and then wipe the bloody blade on his shirt.  "We done here?"

She nodded and started back the way they had come. At the hatch, they had Bird hover, so they could just jump on and not have to deal with the sand.  Barton went first and then leaned over and gave his hand to Romanoff, swinging her up behind him.

"Where to now?"

"Russia, my home town."

Bird said, "location is locked, supersonic in 5 seconds."  The blast of energy from Bird, sent the sand swirling behind them. It was like they'd never been there.

"Doesn't it bother you Nat, that this was a little too easy?" Clint asked.

"We'll find out soon enough.  Decoy or not, I have to go back to where this started," she replied.